Student Reports

Board of Regents

March 20-21, 2003

Montana
Associated Students

Dan
Geelan, President

Discussion with Student Regent Hur

Christian
would like to examine current tuition waivers.
MAS members had tremendous concerns about losing any waivers. Possibly a cap on the discretionary waivers.

Trevor
suggested examining long term benefits of University Assets in addition to
salable value. Nicole asked how
different fee waivers would be evaluated

Christian

·Should solicit information from MAS on action to be taken
regarding fee waivers once information is obtained

A resolution was presented to
Christian regarding a request by MAS for the Student Regent to turn down the
reappointment

·Christian, after numerous requests to not accept the reappointment
to allow other students the opportunity for the student regent process, agreed
that it would be an accurate statement that he would not turn down the
reappointment. And further stated the
he would represent students to the best of his ability and that his future was
in the hands of the Senate.

·Dan Geelan questioned Christian regarding his statement that
the Governor had solicited student input before reappointing him. Dan requested from Christian the names f the
students or student organizations.
Christian stated he was only going off information provided to him by
Steve Snezek in the Governor’s office.

·Heather O’Laughlin asked Christian if he felt it was a
contradiction to make the constant statement that he would do whatever MAS
asked but refuse to turn down the reappointment. Again, Christian stated he would represent MAS concerns to the
best of his ability.

Comments that were given by other
students in attendance of the confirmation hearing:

·Comments by students in MAS meeting were good, but should
have been voiced at the confirmation hearing

·Further avenues to pursue the confirmation process and that
methods of improving institutional memory would be beneficial

·There was inaccurate information presented by Jim S. and
Christian at the hearing

Sarah Cobler (ASUM lobbyist)
provided legislative update

·Currently we are $48 million under present law needs

·Goal of MUS system is to get to the Governor’s budget
recommendation level

·Expressed importance of individual lobbying efforts, push
through to the end of the session

·At 10:00 on Friday the House of Representatives will
introduce students

Matt suggested to amend buy-laws to pass
motions on either 2/3 or majority approval.
Discussion was made on pros and cons of different requirements for
motion approval

Motion by Trevor to amend section d to
approve motions by majority approval

Sara seconded

Vote 7-2 with Billings and Dillon
dissenting

Discussion continued

Motion made by Joe to amend section d to
approved general motions by a 2/3 majority approval

Seconded by Sara

Vote 9-0 with none in opposition

2. Resolution from MSU was presented.

Motion was made to amend resolution to read
“Therefore let it be further resolved that MAS recommends and formally requests
to the Montana Senate that the current student regent’s term end July 1, 2003”
and be approved in total by Joe Clark

4. Jon Swan presented request to MAS to formally
support same sex health benefits for employees of the university system

Heather O’Laughlin presented some
information on the topic

Informational packets were sent to most campus
student leaders

oResults of consultant study showed about a 0.17% increase in
costs of extending benefits

oUM faculty and ASUM have taken a stance in support of
extending benefits

Board of Regents voted unanimously against
benefits for same sex health benefits in past

Discussion was put forward by several students
on the issue

Jon Swan
made motion for MAS to recommend the extension of same sex benefits

Seconded
by Nicole

Jon
withdraws motion on the basis that issue will be taken to each campus senate and
a resolution from each campus will be presented for approval

5. Resolution from ASUM tabled by Jon

6. Dan presented numbers to MAS on proposed
tuition costs for next year

Proposed
tuition will be lunch topic tomorrow

7. Matt Jennings presented

·Ted Morrison, President of MontPirg who presented discussion
on proposal being carried by the student regent. Unless there is a consensus among board members, would like to
hold off on motion until the outcome can be predicted.

Associated
Students Montana State University-Northern

Dan
Geelan, President

Vice Chancellor Jensen provided
ASMSUN with the mandatory fee proposal on March 3rd and March 10th. Students had a great number of questions on
both dates regarding the proposed fees.

President Geelan met with the
Deans of MSU-Northern in hopes of gaining support for an expanded student
grievance process. Presently students only
have an avenue of grieving/appealing grades, sexual harassment, and
discrimination. Deans were provided
with examples of student concerns and complaints that could be addressed with
an expanded grievance process. Deans
were also informed that most students do not take the end of the semester
surveys serious. Hopefully this
dialogue between students and the Deans will continue with regard to a more
formal grievance process.

ASMSUN was informed that the debt
service the Gym Building fee was instituted to pay off would end next fiscal
year. Since MSUN will only have a half
a payment remaining, students expressed their wish to have some of the
remaining payment designated to leasing cardiovascular equipment and providing
separate space in the gym for a cardio room.
Emmy Olson, a student, is busy preparing a report listing the costs
associated with this endeavor in hopes that this can be completed this summer.

MSU-Northern took third place
honors at this years National NAIA Wrestling Tournament. Emmett Wilson and Matt Carter both were
individual Champions with Emmett receiving the tournaments Outstanding Wrestler
award. Kyle Fisher and Mike Lester also
reached the finals. Andy Thompson took
third. Bobby Mantle and Caleb Schaeffer
took fifth. Caleb was also an Academic
All-American.

MSU-Northern Men’s and Women’s
Basketball teams wrapped up their season and performed extremely well under new
Head Coaches Mike Erickson (women’s) and Shawn Huse (men’s).

Associated Students The University of Montana-Helena College of
Technology

Joe Clark, President

Since the
last Board of Regents’ meeting our campus here at UM-HCT has accomplished a lot, and our Senate has been
very busy. I would first like to tell
you about our campus activities. Before
Christmas we had a UM-HCT Christmas party sponsored by the Senate, then in
January we had a UM-HCT free bowling night which has been a huge success and
has allowed students to be involved with students of other programs. Now we are working on a campus ski trip, ice fishing derby, and spring
BBQ. Other things happening are student
Senate elections are starting off, we just sponsored our Metals Technology
Program to build four battle bots and have the bots compete against each other
for the whole campus and community to watch.
We also are looking at buying a coffee booth for our student center, and
we are trying to develop Student Senate scholarships for students on campus.

We just
appeared before the Legislative Committee to testify as a proponent for House
Bill 560 which is a proposal to build another campus next to our Poplar campus
and sell our other buildings. If this
bill passes it will allow the students to stay at one campus all day instead of
switching campuses all the time.

That
pretty well sums up what we at UM-HCT have been doing for the past month.

Associated Students
Miles Community College

Shonda
Schallenberger, President

·ASMCC sponsored our first homecoming. It was a week of activities which included:
Dress-up days, ice skating, movie night, game night, bonfire, bachelor/
bachelorette auction, and a dance with the crowing of royalty. Homecoming was a great success. It pulled students together, sparked more
school pride and started towards a trend for more student involvement.

·MCC has been able to send student representation to voice
our campus concerns at the legislature.

·Our Big Sky dorms are scheduled for tear down on February 24th. Once torn down, construction of the new
dorms hopefully begin March 1st.

·Senate elections will be help on March 19-20

·Budget hearings are scheduled to start on March 25th.

·ASMCC
along with PTK have started planning for our academic awards banquet. It is scheduled for April 6. This is an annual event to spotlight those
who have excelled academically.

·I
would also like to recognize Andrea Nichols for receiving the 2001 New Century
Scholar award through Phi Theta Kappa.
She is the only Montana recipient of this award.

Associated Students Montana Tech
of The University of Montana

Jared Robertson, President

Montana Tech now has a new student
chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). SAE will be competing in an engineering competition in April that
involves improving snowmobile emissions.

The Human Powered Vehicle (HPV)
team, the concrete canoe team, the steal bridge team, and the mining team are
all in there final training, design, and construction stages and will be
competing in there events at the end of April as well.

The Student Activities Council
(SAC) has been offering many activities on campus that range from candle making
to pottery classes. These activities
have given students many activities to utilize in there free time.

Elections were held on the 26th
and 27th of February for ASMT executive positions. The new
president, vice president, and treasurer for the Associated Students of Montana
Tech are:

President- Tug Euden

Vice President- Clinton Pfiefle

Treasurer- Scott Marsh

Senator Elections will be held on
the 16th and 17th of April which will complete the
student leadership elections for next year.

Associated Students Montana State
University-Bozeman

Trevor Blyth, President

·Early in March, the ASMSU Senate approved by majority vote a
resolution supporting a five (5) year extension to the current banner fee which
is scheduled to sunset in FY06. This
resolution was approved by the senate on the basis that five year extension
would allow ITC adequate time to address its current needs and come to a
solution that did not include the need for a specific network fee.

·Spring senate elections including presidential elections
will be held next week on the 26th and 27th of March.

·Last fall a new electronic voting system was
implemented. Due to a concern of
possible unforeseen problems, access was limited to three computer terminals
similar to traditional voting on campus and did not fully utilize its
capabilities for the use on the internet.
There were no significant concerns that arose from the election. As a result, during this coming election
access will be extended to allow voting from anywhere internet is available
during specified hours.

·Recently ASMSU filled a new director position which was
created for the MSU Leadership Institute, one of ASMSU’s committees. The director is a classified employee who
will continue and grow the services of the leadership[ institute which includes
leadership development workshops, an annual professional development series,
and notable speakers. Last year the MSU
Leadership Institute brought Lech Walesa, past President of Poland to Montana
State University as a speaker.

Associated Students Montana State
University-Great Falls College of Technology

Sara Anderson, President

·On behalf of the Associated Students as MSU-GFCoT I would
like to welcome Regent Taylor and Commissioner Krause. We look forward to working with you.

·In the past few months ASMSU-GFCoT has been working on the
spring semester Spring Picnic Faculty/Staff appreciation. The senate gives out numerous awards and
recognized several individuals on the campus that help the success of the
senate.

·The senate had the fee presentation from Dean Moe and Dean
Baukol. Several students across the
campus showed up for the presentation.
The senate will be voting on the fees in the next senate meeting.

·Easily Amused will be coming to the campus to perform for
the student body on April 18th.
This will be the first time we have had a musical. Performance for the
student body sponsored by ASMSU-GFCoT.

·
Join me for Breakfast” is a function put on by New Student Services. They have asked for ASMSU-GF’s assistance to
help sponsor the breakfast. The
breakfast is to allow current students to bring a friend that is interested in
the college to come to a presentation with them. In previous years it has been dinner.

·ASMSU-GF senate is sponsoring our second blood drive for the
year on April 2nd. Our goal
is set five above fall semester’s blood drive at 40 donors.